I'm watching the first season of the original Twilight Zone right now and while a lot of these performances are certainly "dated" and not very "realistic," they are all quite good. Most of these characters do not behave or react as you or I would or probably most of their contemporaries would. At what point does a performance become too realistic to you?

TOO realistic? Hmm, the only instances I can think of would be times when it gets too personal or awkward. Kim Basinger crying in 8 MILE, the awkward moments in the UK version of THE OFFICE.

Well, okay, what I mean is... let's say you see a giant spider the size of a Volkeswagon Beetle moving toward you. In old movies, most characters would let out a very dramatic scream for the camera and then turn and run or just stay there screaming dramatically until they were gobbled up. It strikes me that this is not a realistic response. But... which is better?

I think it goes hand in hand with the script. It bugs me, for example, when characters make choices solely to further the plot. To use your example, the actress screams until the spider eats her. Both the acting and the story would strike me as unrealistic. I lean towards seeing people act like people I know might. So ... realistic!

I agree with the Canadian.

Johnny Depp. That is a good actor!

In answer to your question? Too real for me was watching the Steeler's Wheel torture scene in Reservoir Dogs.

You thought that was too real? I thought that was definitely played to the camera. It had Tarantino written all over it.

I suppose it's a good performance if it works in the context--if it doesn't pull you out of the story.

Last night I watched Humphrey Bogart in "High Sierra". It worked fine. Take Bogie out of there and have him in a modern movie saying things like "I was planning a crash-out, but it blew up when a screw put the blast on me" and it wouldn't work at all. But in a 1940s Warner Brothers gangster movie his acting, character, and dialog all fit.